With all due respect to Uruguay and Holland, who play in Tuesday’s earlier semifinal game there’s a certain vibe that the matchup between Spain and Germany will determine the eventual World Cup champion. The European powers both kept a clean sheet in beating their quarterfinal opponents, but in a dramatically divergent manner. Spain had all they could handle with a tenacious Paraguay side, finally wresting victory with David Villa’s goal in the 83rd minute. Germany, on the other hand, absolutely overwhelmed Argentina en route to a 4-0 win. Thomas Mueller scored just three minutes in to give Germany a 1-0 lead at the half, and they poured it on in the second half as Miroslav Klose scored twice.

Following an amazing stoppage time goal by Landon Donovan against Algeria, the USA has advanced to the knockout round and with a very favorable bracket seeding could make a nice run. Ghana is through to the second round for the second straight World Cup despite a 1-0 setback to Germany on Wednesday. Saturday’s game will take place at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenberg, South Africa with the winner facing the winner between South Korea and Uruguay in the quarterfinals.

With the obvious exception of the implosion of the French team, there may not be a bigger disappointment in World Cup play to date than Cameroon. Many soccer pundits considered them to be the best African team in the competition and at the very least a tough adversary for any opponent. Based on their opening game loss to Japan, that assessment couldn’t have been more wrong—Cameroon’s players looked listless and unfocused while manager Paul Le Guen looked to be in over his head in terms of tactics and matchups. The result was a completely inept offensive attack—Cameroon didn’t get their first shot on goal until the 37th minute, and Japan immediately launched a counterstrike that resulted in Keisuke Honda’s game winning goal.

The World Cup quarterfinals begin on Friday and up first is a very good matchup between Brazil and Holland. Brazil is always considered among the top challengers for soccer’s biggest prize and was favored along with Spain heading into the 2010 tournament. Holland is also a very well respected side and was installed as the #5 World Cup betting favorite before play began. This game will go at 7:00 AM Pacific time on Friday morning.

One of the entrants in the second round from Group E is already known as Holland will advance, while Cameroon is eliminated. That makes this contest between Japan and Denmark a ‘winner take all’ affair where the parameters are simple and obvious—the team that wins will head to the next round while the loser goes home. Japan can also advance with a draw by virtue of a better goal differential.

Japan and Holland both won their opening games in Group E play, and a win here could clinch a spot in the final 16. The Dutch side entered the tournament as one of the favorites to win, and despite a slow start managed to secure a comfortable win over Denmark. Japan played competently in a somewhat forgettable game against Cameroon, but used a first half goal to take a 1-0 victory. Not surprisingly, Holland is a prohibitive favorite in this matchup.